I wish I had more time to spend with God.

This is a common lie. Yes, that’s right: it’s a lie! We love to tell our friends, “I just don’t have enough time,” at church, and then after the service we go home, put on our pjs, and scroll on TikTok for the next three hours.

We love to replace reading the Word with hearing a different word—Instagram and TikTok have things about God, so that’s our supplementary Bible reading for the day. But it’s not that simple. If it was, we wouldn’t have the Bible.

It’s like the famous Josiah Queen song: Dusty Bibles. We are engaged with the algorithm more than the words that are literally God-given.

At my youth group, we had discussed the importance of spending solitude with the Lord. So many of the girls in my group said, “I just don’t feel like I have enough time.”

Then our small group leaders asked us to share our screen time if we were comfortable. Several of the girls did, and they immediately hid their faces after sharing. Their average for a normal school day was nine to twelve hours. And half that time was spent on apps like TikTok or Instagram.

It shocked me—what did they mean by “I don’t have enough time”? It was hard to not be judgmental of these girls, simply because they had more than enough time to sit with the Lord.

A lot of times we act like we don’t have enough time to read Scripture or pray, but really we don’t know how much time we have left at all. Anything can happen in a few hours.

At the end of the day, I want to face the Lord, proud of the things I had made priorities in life.

I fully believe that we will face the Lord (as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:10) and be held accountable for the things that we chose over Him. And unfortunately, for the majority of the world right now, one of those things might be the devices we hold in our hands.

Does this mean that every minute we spend on our phones or computers is bad? No, absolutely not. The majority of my screen time’s statistics is based on the amount of time I spend texting or calling my best friends. I easily spend an hour, two hours texting (or even six hours of calling, yes it has been done) them because I can’t talk to them in person since they live across the country or three to thirteen hours away.

But there are things that I could be more mindful of, as we all do. Sometimes I’m reading an easy summer romance when I could be reading something that’s full of wisdom and conviction.

What if we stopped dreaming and started doing? Let’s make time for God.

In the Bible, we can read accounts of Jesus actively seeking out the people around Him. For example, look at the story of Zacchaeus: when he was in the sycamore-fig tree hoping to see Jesus, Jesus saw the tax-collector, spoke to him, and made time for him.

‘When Jesus reached the [tree], he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”
Luke 19:5 NIV

The Lord is not a God who simply waits for us, He invites us. And what is good reason for rejecting that daily invitation? Is a hit of dopamine worth it? Or should we pursue intentionality?

Recently I’ve found that taking my Bible somewhere and reading it and praying before I go into that place (work, church, counseling appointments) has dramatically changed the way I go about my day. If I’m going to be interacting with people, I want to have the best mindset. And not only that, but I’m spending time with the Lord. That’s just one of many, many ways to set aside time for Him.

I’d love to hear how you guys intentionally spend time with God—do you like to do worship sessions in your car? Read your Bible in the morning or at night? Do a devotional every day?

Thanks for reading, have a great day!
~Willow